1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inclination position sensor and a method of manufacturing the inclination position sensor, and in particular to an inclination position sensor that includes electrodes having a circular arc shape and an inclination position sensor manufacturing method that can manufacture an inclination position sensor by an assembly process or a package process.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as the diversification of electronic devices has progressed, the number of electronic devices that perform detection of inclination and vibration of a body using various inclination switches has increased.
As such an electronic device, a vertical-to-horizontal position detection part has been disclosed in order to recognize the vertical-to-horizontal position of a camera, for example (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 07-319041). This vertical-to-horizontal detection part will be described using FIGS. 7A and 7B.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams showing a camera as seen from the front. A bar 302 that is rotatable about a shaft 301 disposed orthogonal to the film plane is attached inside a camera body 300. The bar 302 is an insulator and configured such that it can rotate between a stopper 303 and an electric contact 304 that doubles as a stopper. It will be noted that an electric contact 305 is attached to the bar 302 on the side that contacts the electric contact 304.
When the camera body 300 is in an ordinary position, that is, a horizontal position, the bar 302 is in the state indicated by “A” shown in FIG. 7A where the electric contact 305 contacts the electric contact 304. When the camera body 300 is in a vertical position, the bar 302 is in the state indicated by “B” shown in FIG. 7B where the electric contact 305 does not contact the electric contact 304.
Thus, when lead wires attached to the electric contact 304 and the electric contact 305 are connected to input ports of a CPU 203 and the electric contact 304 and the electric contact 305 come into contact with each other, the CPU 203 can detect from the output signals thereof that the camera body 300 is in a horizontal position. As described above, the CPU 203 can detect whether the camera is in a vertical position or a horizontal position.
Further, an inclination position detection sensor that can detect an inclination position in eight directions (0°, 45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270° and 315°) has been proposed (e.g., see JP-A No. 2001-110292).
FIG. 8A is a cross-sectional diagram of the inclination position sensor 400, and FIG. 8B is an exploded perspective diagram of the inclination position sensor 400. As is apparent from FIG. 8B, the inclination position sensor 400 is configured by various parts.
However, the vertical-to-horizontal detection part 300 shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B has the problem that it can only perform simple vertical-to-horizontal detection and it cannot perform more detailed inclination position detection.
Further, the vertical-to-horizontal detection part 300 shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B and the inclination position sensor 400 shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B are parts comprising a combination of simple mechanical elements and have various problems in terms of making them compact, lightweight, and production-efficient.
Further, the inclination position sensor 400 shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B is a structure where a conductive ball 401 point-contacts corners of fixed contacts 403, 404 and 407, which has been a problem in that the inclination position sensor 400 breaks because of the impact of the conductive ball 401 and its lifespan becomes shorter.